Facebook Privacy

Privacy and Social networking sites such as Facebook do not go well together in some people's eyes. Although the personal information you have put online is set to a certain privacy option, users cannot fully trust Facebook. In the three articles which are being over-viewed, two articles are encouraging young teenagers to use Facebook because of how greatly it affects their lives and education. On the other hand, one article is stating all the negative points of Facebook and persuading users to eventually quit this type of social media."My new Facebook friend..." is an article written by Sarah Firisen which was posted on 3 Quarks Daily on the 10th of April, 2010. The writer Firisen receives a friend request from her daughter and contends that it is alright for young teenagers to spend their time on Facebook. In Firisen's opinion, the internet as well as Facebook helps the children become confident and independent young people in their lives. As well as that, the Internet becomes an important part for their education as it helps the younger generation to know and understand the value of its content and how to navigate it. "Top 10 reasons why you should quite Facebook" is an article written by Dan Yoder on Gizmodo, posted on the 4th of May, 2010 which lists and explains 10 reasons as to why Facebook users should abandon their accounts. Yoder contends that the privacy policies are just "going down the drain" giving enough reason for users to quit using Facebook before it's too late. According to Yoder, the top 1 reason for users to delete their Facebook accounts is because "the Facebook application itself sucks". In saying that, Yoder is against the use of Facebook unlike Firisen who encourages people, especially teenagers to create and have a Facebook account. "Brave new world?" is an article written by Sarah Firisen on the 2nd of August, 2010 which was posted on 3 Quarks Daily. Firisen believes that children younger than teens should be taught how to be "critical, discriminating consumers of content of information" whilst understanding that whatever they post up on the web will remain there.

Although Sarah Firisen's article, "My new Facebook friend..." believes that there is no reason for young teenagers not to use Facebook. According to Firisen, she allows her daughter to have a Facebook account as it enables her to communicate and stay in touch with friends and family who she doesn't get to see regularly. Firisen believes that the reasons for letting children use the Internet is linked to their education and parenting. As part of this article, a rebuttal is also used as Firisen says, "There's no doubt that the Internet can be a scary place to let children roam." Although Firisen suggests that Facebook is a great educational tool for children as well a way to interact with friends and family, she also states that the Internet can be a scary place which may be dangerous, containing a wide range of different information. In the beginning of the article, Firisen uses the persuasive technique of anecdote as she says, "Last month I got a new Facebook friend, my daughter." This leads the article into the rest of what's written, starting from Firisen receiving a friend request to the pros and cons of Facebook. As well as the rebuttal and anecdote, Firisen also uses a rhetorical question as she asks the readers, "... do we really want to wait until high school to introduce them to something that is such an increasingly prevalent part of adult life?" She is stating that at a young age, we should be exposed to the cyber world without having to wait until teenage years to introduce something which impacts our lives towards adulthood. Despite the fact that this article is agreeing on Facebook being a multi-purpose tool, the article "Top 10 reasons why you should quit Facebook" believes the complete opposite.

Dan Yoder's article, "Top 10 reasons why you should quit Facebook" is trying to encourage as much people as possible to just simply delete their Facebook accounts. In Yoder's opinion, there are 10 different negative explanations, persuading users into abandoning Facebook. Yoder believes that Facebook is "more annoying than anything else" and "completely useless" as all it could possibly do is advertise dating sites. As well as Facebook being ridiculous to Yoder, the layout and theme cannot be altered and changed